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Much like in a courtroom, closing is a key component on the football field, and if Monday night’s performance was any indication, the Chargers don’t know how to do that. San Diego held a 28-7 lead over the Houston Texans in the third quarter on Monday night, only to go scoreless over the final 25 minutes and be overtaken in a 31-28 loss.

The Chargers let five halftime leads disappear during the 2012 season, so Philip Rivers is used to such sickening letdowns by now. He probably thought things would be different under new head coach Mike McCoy, but Monday proved to be just another queasy ending for the 31-year-old quarterback.

“Every game stings that you lose. You lose this way, and it stings a little more,” Rivers said in his postgame interview on ESPN. “I’m sick that we’re not 1-0. But it is just one game. We’ve got 15 more.”

Rivers did his part on Monday, spreading the ball around to seven receivers and throwing four touchdowns in the game, but apparently even that wasn’t enough.